The gap in employment rates between men and women has narrowed across Belgium. It remains the highest in Brussels, however, with a gap of almost ten percentage points.
Historically, employment rates have been higher among men than women in Belgium due to socio-demographic, economic and cultural factors. However, over the years, this gap has narrowed, Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, reported.
"The gap in the employment rate between men and women aged 20 to 64 fell from 10.3 percentage points in 2011 to 6.1 percentage points in 2021," said Statbel spokesperson Wendy Schelfaut. In 2021, the employment rate of women was 68.6%, while that of men was 74.7%.
However, the gap remains much wider in some areas of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region has the largest gap in employment rates between men and women. Here, 64.2% of men are in employment compared to just 55.7% of women, amounting to an 8.5 percentage point difference.
Local differences
Taking a closer look at Brussels' municipalities, the inequality is most defined in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, with a gender employment gap of 15.8 percentage points (59.6% of male residents of the municipality have a job, compared to 43.8% of female residents).
It is followed by Anderlecht with a gap of 13.4: 63.1% of men work and 49.8% of women. In third place is Koekelberg, where the employment rate among men is 67.2% and 54.4% among women, equating to a gender employment gap of 12.8.
Remarkably, the municipalities with the highest female employment rates are mainly found in the municipalities close to Brussels. In West Flanders, the gap is also much smaller.
In Wallonia, the largest gap is observed in Farciennes with 57.8% of men working compared to 42.5% of women, while in Flanders, the largest gap was seen in Sint-Niklaas in the East Flemish province, with 66% and 52.7% workng, respectively.
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Meanwhile, Bierbeek is the only municipality where the employment rate is higher among women than among men (the gap is -0.3 here). For some municipalities, equality between men and women in terms of employment rates is (almost) respected, Statbel noted.
"This is the case for the municipalities of Beernem with an employment rate of 80.8% for men and 80.7% for women, Tournai with 65.5% and 65.4% respectively, Verlaine with 79.5% and 78.9% respectively, Hastière with 55.8% and 55.1% respectively and Lierneux with 72% and 71% respectively."
There are also differences in terms of occupational status. In general, men are more often self-employed than women. "A higher proportion of women are wage earners compared to men, who are more often self-employed."
While that difference is 5.2 percentage points across Belgium as a whole, it is 10.8 percentage points in the Brussels Region. Men are also more likely to be working as labourers and to work outside their province than women.
